


written in blood

by lonelybee



Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, Set after act 1, chess is a ghost, idk what else to tag with but this is gonna be gay I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelybee/pseuds/lonelybee
Summary: Chess comes back as a ghost and haunts Kate until she finds her killer (and until Kate admits her feelings for the cute new flyer on the team).Takes place right before Act 2.This is my first fic, so please leave comments! I'd love your feedback!
Relationships: Chess/Kate (We Are The Tigers), Kate/Eva Sanchez (We Are The Tigers)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter One

Kate is alone. She wakes up in the morning, drives to school, goes through her classes, goes to practice (D-E-F-E-N-S-E ringing in her brain), and drives home.

She wasn’t ever close with the cheer team, and only made the switch from gymnastics to be with Chess in the first place. “You’re literally going to hate it, I can’t believe you’re actually doing this with me,” she had said when Kate followed her to tryouts. “Yeah,” Kate replied, nervously adjusting her hat, “But I don’t hate you.” Chess smiled, and her smile shot through Kate’s heart like a flaming arrow.

So Kate is alone. None of her teammates/accessories to a felony have reached out to her. Sure, they’re probably all dealing with their own issues, and it’s not like Kate would have reached out to them either, but still. Having no friends kind of sucked. Especially after she lost her best friend (more than best friend? She died before Kate could have ever gotten the nerve to tell her how she felt). Chess was everything, and now she was gone, and Kate felt her absence like a knife in her side.

She drove home from another practice that nobody had their heart in, with Riley desperately trying to get everyone to contribute, frantically trying to keep the team together, the huge smile plastered on her face seeming more like a grimace everyday. Kate fidgeted with her bracelet, the one Chess gave her for her birthday last year, the matching one still on her wrist when they buried her less than a month ago. 

The funeral was awful. The whole team came to pay their respects, but none of them knew her, really knew her like Kate did, and it all felt so fake. None of them really knew what to say, and Annaleigh couldn’t even look at her, not wanting to see the same loss and sadness she also felt. Cairo, thankfully, didn’t make a snide remark about the nature of her and Chess’ relationship, but the dangerous glint in her eye when she saw Kate made it clear that she knew if anyone was going to crack under the pressure of keeping what happened at the sleepover a secret, it was her. Kate stared at the casket, the one her best friend was in, dead and cold and gone, and a dull ache spread through Kate’s chest. She ran into the bathroom the moment she got home that night and puked, and then cried on the bathroom floor, for hours, head in her knees, the bracelet heavy around her wrist. 

As Kate pulled into the driveway, her phone beeped. She picked it up, and her stomach dropped.

GOOOOOOO TIGERS!! 🐯🐯🎉📣📣

Riley: Hey everyone! Practice at my place tomorrow!! I have a GREAT routine prepped for the pep rally and I need everyone there so we can be perfect!!!

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go back there, see the house, see the basement, see the bench outside where she fought with Chess, the same bench where Chess --

She didn’t even want to be a cheerleader in the first place, she could just quit now and it would all be over, and she could just forget anything had ever happened. Yeah, she could just tell Riley that right now. Or, she could tell her she’s sick, that she came down with the flu suddenly. She could just run away, get back in the car and drive across state lines. She’d always liked California, maybe she’d go there, start a new life and never come back. Or maybe she’d finally call the police and tell them what really happened, they could find out who actually killed Chess, and Farrah, and Clark, and maybe then she wouldn’t feel so terrible all the time and she wouldn’t want to cry every time she had to put on that stupid orange cheer uniform and look in the mirror, without her best friend there to make a snide remark to or look to for support when Riley put them through another stupid bonding exercise.

Kate shakily took her keys out and unlocked the door to the house. Her parents weren’t going to be home for another hour, so she had enough time to have an internal crisis about this in her room before they came to check on her. 

She took deep breaths as she walked up the stairs, one foot after the other. Left foot, breath in, right foot, breath out. Her hands gripped the railing so hard her knuckles turned white. Kate reached her bedroom, and opened the door. 

Chess, wearing the same tank top and leggings, hair up in the same braid as the day she died, sat on her bed. There was a red stain on her shirt, the same blood that Kate had frantically tried to press her flannel to, knowing in her heart she was already dead, not wanting to believe it, not wanting to admit she was gone, the same blood she saw in her nightmares every night.

Kate stared at her, and Chess stared back. 

Chess (was it Chess? Was this all some sort of vivid hallucination?) stood up. “Hey,” she said.

Kate passed out, her head hitting the floor with a resounding thunk.


	2. Chapter Two

Kate winced as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head hurt, and it took her a moment to remember where she was. She stared at the ceiling, psyching herself up to look around and see if the specter of her best friend that she was totally imagining had disappeared yet. She lifted her head, and there Chess was, still sitting on her bed. Kate could _not_ deal with this. She lay back down on the floor. Maybe if she just lay still, collected her thoughts, it would all go away. This was just shock, a past memory brought up from Riley’s text and her consequent freakout. Hallucinations appear under extreme duress, right?  
  
“So, um, when you’re done lying on the floor, can we talk?” 

Kate sighed. Even as a figment of her imagination, she couldn’t ignore Chess. “That depends. Are you actually here, or am I just having an extremely vivid and painful nightmare?”  
  
The hallucination of her best friend didn’t respond, but let out a huff of frustration, one Kate knew from memory was accompanied by a well placed eyeroll and a half a smile.

Kate’s right arm felt cold, like she’d just reached into a freezer. She looked over, and Chess was lying next to her. “Fuck. This is like some paranormal activity shit. We saw that movie together, if you possess me or turn me into a demon or something, we are no longer friends.”

Chess laughed, and just like when she was alive, the sound made Kate’s stomach do somersaults. “I promise I’m not here to turn you into a demon. I don’t think I’d even know how to do that if I wanted to. I don’t even know why I’m here in the first place.” She rolled onto her side, fully facing Kate, and looked at her, eyes full of fear and a few tears. “I think I need help? From you? All I know is someone stabbed me, it hurt, and I closed my eyes and now I’m here. Like, fuck, am I a ghost? That would be crazy, right?” Chess searched Kate’s eyes for some reaction, some indication that this couldn’t be happening. “Right?” She repeated, voice cracking as tears rolled down her cheek.  
  
Kate felt herself start to cry too. “Chess, I went to your funeral earlier this month, and now you’re lying here on my bedroom floor.” She stood up, steadying herself against the wall, and held out her hand for Chess too. She tried to grab her hand, and Kate felt the same cold feeling as before, but Chess’ hand went right through hers. “Ghost or not,” Kate continued, “You’re dead, and so is Farrah, and so is Clark, the freshman’s in prison, and I can’t change any of that, I don’t know what you think I can do to help you with whatever the fuck is happening right now. And honestly, this is probably the product of some kind of mental breakdown, and I can’t even believe I’m going along with this, but if I’m crazy I’m crazy, and you’re here in my BEDROOM, DEAD--”  
  
Kate stopped shakily as she heard a knock on her bedroom door. “Fuck, that’s my parents, um, can you like… hide or something? I really don’t know what to do… I mean can they see you?”  
  
Either way, it was too late, and Kate’s mom swung the door open. “Kate, who are you talking to up here?” 

Kate and Chess made eye contact as Chess stood in the middle of her room. “Um… no one? I was just watching something on my phone.” Kate’s phone was still in her backpack, but hopefully her mom wouldn’t notice the lie.

“Okay sweetie, well dinner’s ready, so come downstairs when you’re done!” She walked away, and Kate quickly closed the door after her, and let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.  
  
“So, I guess you’re the only one who can see me then? Huh.”  
  
Kate needed to get out of the room, she needed space to think, she needed… She needed to go downstairs and get dinner before her parents noticed something was up and they tried to send her to more sessions with her grief counselor. “Okay, um, just stay up here while I go get dinner, I’ll come back as soon as I can, I promise.”  
  
Chess sighed, and sat back down on Kate’s bed. “Yeah, whatever, don’t mind the ghost hanging out in your bedroom, go eat with your family, I get it. You know I don’t even think I can eat? I think it would just pass right through me.”

Kate opened her mouth to respond, but thought better of it and went downstairs.

Dinner was… awkward to say the least. It had been for the past month, and the knowledge that the ghost of her best friend was sitting upstairs certainly didn’t help. The meal passed in silence, none of them knowing what to say to each other, and after clearing her plate, Kate sprinted back upstairs. The oppressive worry and deadly quiet Kate felt with her parents now was almost a worse feeling than finding a ghost in her bedroom.

Chess stood up when she saw Kate enter the room. “So I think I figured it out.” 

Kate blinked. “Figured out what?”  
  
“How you can help me, why I came back, all that!”  
  
“What? What the hell are you talking about?”  
  
“Okay, so I’m a ghost, right? At least we think I’m a ghost. Both of us have seen enough horror movies to know that ghosts only come back when they have unfinished business. We also know there’s no way Mattie could have killed a fly, let alone three people. So maybe my unfinished business is finding out who killed me for real!”

Kate sat down on her bed again. “Okay, but the guy who killed you must be long gone by now. I mean, it’s been a month, there’s no way he’s just hanging around.”  
  
“Kate, this is where my expertise, my insider ghost knowledge, my phantom powers come into play. Listen, I have no idea who actually killed me, but I _know_ it’s one of the girls on the team. It has to be. When I was, um… dying... I saw whoever it was that stabbed me go back into the house! Like they used the front door and everything, so it’s totally someone we know.”  
  
“Well shit.”

“Yeah.”  
  
Kate felt the now familiar icy cold feeling spread on her side as Chess sat down next to her on the bed. “Kate, listen, I know it’s all different now, but I want you to know I’m sorry for how we left things at Riley’s house. I broke your trust, I shouldn’t have been taking so much of my pain medication. I know you probably hate me right now, but you’re my best friend, and I really need your help.”  
  
Kate looked at Chess, and put her hand on the space where Chess’ ghost hand was. “I could never hate you, Chess.” She stared at her, face open and vulnerable. “You’re my best friend, you’re -- you’re more than that, I--”

Chess cut her off with a smile, filled with pain, regret, and a hint of longing. “I know. I know, Kate. You’re my everything. I’d do anything for you, you know that? ” She gestured to the bracelet on her wrist. “We’re tied together, always have been. I think -- I think that’s probably why I ended up here, of all places.”  
  
Kate took a deep breath, smiled, and stood up. “Okay then. Let’s figure this out.” She pulled out her phone and typed a quick thumbs up to the group chat, letting them know she’d be there at practice at Riley’s house tomorrow. Ready or not, she was going to figure this out, she was going to find out who killed Chess and they were going to get what they deserved (which in Kate’s opinion was nothing less than eternity in the fiery pits of hell).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for reading! Please leave a comment, positive or constructive! This is my first fic, so I'd love some feedback!
> 
> I'll be updating pretty quickly for the next month or two because of corona, and I'm having a great time writing! I love the relationship/friendship that Kate and Chess have, so I'm looking forward to writing more about that. And, Kate's going to meet Eva in the next chapter, so don't worry, that's coming up and it's definitely gonna be gay... 
> 
> So thanks once again, I hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter Three

Kate stood on Riley’s front porch for the first time since the sleepover. 

_ “Got your bag! Can’t escape now.” _

_ “We could always go back to your place…” _

The memories of that night sent a shiver down Kate’s spine. If they had just left, if Kate could have just convinced Chess that she would be fine if she didn’t go, she could still be strong if she quit cheer, then maybe she wouldn’t have died, and maybe she’d still be here standing next to her alive, instead of as a ghost. Maybe if Kate had tried harder, nobody would have had to die.

The cold feeling of Chess’ hand on Kate’s shoulder made her shiver again, and it was almost like she knew exactly what was going through her head. “It wasn’t your fault, Kate. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. There’s no way we could have known someone was going to do this, don’t blame yourself. Blame the person who stabbed me, the same person we’re going to catch tonight.”   
  
Kate closed her eyes and nodded, trying to swallow the lump in her throat that was either going to make her cry or puke. “Okay. Okay, yeah, you’re right, we’re gonna do this. I’m gonna go down there, we’re gonna fucking do this, Chess.”   
  
“Um, Kate? I don’t want to interrupt whatever’s going on right here because I’m sure it’s totally important to your healing and stuff, but you’re kind of blocking the door.”   
  
Kate’s eyes snapped open, and Reese was standing there, looking incredibly uncomfortable as she tried to squeeze her way past Kate to get inside. “Oh, hey Reese!” Kate tried to cover up Reese seeing her speak to her dead friend with forced enthusiasm, and it failed miserably. She cleared her throat and tried to look less crazed. “Um, yeah, for sure, I’ll let you get by. I’m surprised you came back, to be honest.”   
  
Reese smiled sheepishly. “Oh yeah, I definitely was planning on quitting, walking away, and never coming back again, but then Riley gave me pom poms!” Reese quickly pushed past Kate and walked inside, clearly trying to avoid whatever conversation could have followed that information bombshell she just dropped.

“Wha--” Kate tried to respond as the door closed in her face. 

Chess started laughing. “Riley totally gave Reese my spot on the team, didn’t she.”   
  
“Dude, you’re literally dead right now, how is this funny to you?”   
  
“Because of that! I’m literally dead, and all that matters is that Reese is on the team now instead of me. Riley really replaced me quickly, didn’t she.”   
  
Kate shook her head. “Riley’s been coping by trying to hold together the disaster that is our squad, and it is  _ not _ going well. I think she’s just super in denial.”   
  
Chess rolled her eyes and huffed. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. She’s always been a little type A, I get it. Just thought I’d get a little more respect. You know, being dead and all. You should probably go in now, before Reese tells everyone you’re going crazy and talking to yourself on the front porch. I think Riley’d have a conniption if anyone on the team had a mental breakdown before the pep rally.”   
  
They stepped inside, and Kate was greeted with the sight of what was left of the squad. Reese, shifting back and forth, clearly unsure what to say, and Annaleigh gripping a parasol like it was going to fly away. Cairo rolled her eyes, and Riley’s grin widened, speaking before her friend could let out a mean comment. “Great, everyone’s here! Oh, well mostly everyone’s here. We’re actually waiting for one mo--”   
  
The doorbell rang, and Riley practically sprinted over to swing it wide open. Whoever was there quickly jumped backwards, surprised by the redhead’s erratic movements. “Tigers, may I present to you, the newest member of our squad, here from West High--”   
  
“Pizza Girl?!” Cairo cut in, eyes bugging out of her head. “What the hell are you doing here?”   
  
Riley glared at her. “Well, if you had let me  _ finish _ , Eva Sanchez, the top flyer in the state, is joining our squad this year! So please give her a warm welcome!”   
  
Eva looked like a deer in headlights, still in her work uniform and jean jacket, with a -- was that a rainbow pin? Oh. Ohhhh. Kate wasn’t the only one to notice, and she felt cold spread on her side as Chess elbowed her. “Dude, she’s totally gay, right? Do I get a good ally point for noticing?” She smirked and winked at Kate.

Kate whispered back angrily under her breath, “We’re literally here to find out who killed you, and this is what you’re focusing on?”   
  
“Yeah, but you totally noticed it too, I saw you looking.”   
  
Kate rolled her eyes and focused back on the group, where Eva had started to introduce herself. “Yeah, your school has a really good science program and I’m super into climatology, so I’m happy to be here!”

Cairo crossed her arms. “You do know there’s no chance you’re ever going to win a game or see a trophy again, right?”   
  
Eva laughed, a little self consciously, and fidgeted with her jacket. “I know, but I cheer for fun, really, not to win. I’m just here to have a good time!”   


“Great!” Riley cut in, clearly desperate to start practice. “Okay, let’s head downstairs and get working, we have to get this routine down in time for the pep rally!”   
  
Everyone slowly shuffled downstairs, reluctant to enter the same basement where they’d framed a girl for murder. Kate walked over to Eva, who still looked a little scared, and introduced herself. “Hey, I’m Kate. I, uh, I like your pin.”   
  
Eva looked down at her jacket, and blushed when she looked back up at Kate. She had really pretty eyes, and her lips were -- Kate’s eyes shot back to Eva’s, determined not to creep her out within seconds of meeting. “Thanks,” Eva smiled. “I’m Eva.”   
  
Her eyes followed Eva as she went by her and down to the basement.

“So.”   
  
She whipped her head back up and made eye contact with Chess, whose arms were crossed and her eyebrow raised. “Not the time to be thinking about stuff like that, we’re here to catch a killer, huh?”   
  
Kate sputtered “I-- I wasn’t- She--”   
  
Chess grinned. “I’m messing with you, Kate. I’ve been your friend long enough to understand you’re helpless when it comes to pretty girls. Come on, let’s go downstairs.” She walked down the steps, with Kate sheepishly following behind her.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a time jump here from the last chapter, to after the killer is revealed!

“I think Riley’s making a really good point. Obviously this means a lot to her, and we’ve all been pretty unhelpful.”

Reese made eye contact with Kate, and Kate nodded, slowly sneaking up behind Riley, pink dumbbell gripped tightly in her right hand, shaking like a leaf.

So I think, I think we owe it to her, to really crack DOWN.”  
  
Kate started to hit Riley with the dumbbell, but instead felt a strong hand wrap around her wrist, and a searing pain in her thigh. Fuck! She dropped to her knees, gripping her leg, Riley staring down at her with a fire in her eyes that terrified Kate to her core. 

“You know, Kate, it’s been so hard keeping you on the team because you’re so good, but you’re so fucking annoying.” Riley waved the knife, covered in -- was that her blood? Kate felt dizzy, and spots started to form in front of her eyes. Riley lifted her off the floor and put the knife to her throat, and suddenly Kate was on the ground again. She saw the dumbbell, that stupid pink dumbbell, in the corner of her vision. Someone must have hit her with it again. Kate closed her eyes, she was too tired to keep them open anymore. Her leg was throbbing, but she didn’t feel it. All she felt was herself slowly drifting, drifting away from Riley’s basement, drifting…

Kate felt bolts of ice shoot through her shoulders, and she opened her eyes with a start. Chess was above her, shaking her as hard as she could, looking like a guardian angel (mostly because the blood loss gave everything a little bit of a blurry halo). “Come on, Kate, don’t give up, I swear to god, I’ll kill you myself if you die down here. This is _not_ happening right now. Get up, Kate, get UP!”   
  
Suddenly, Chess is replaced by another… angel? The cold feeling in her shoulders goes away, and in its place is hard, human warmth. “Jesus, you’re freezing, dude,” said her angel as she picked her up and sat her on the table.   
  
Kate shook her head, and centered her focus on the girl next to her. “Eva?”   
  
Eva gave her a confused look (one that was also infused with a large helping of panic). “Um, yes?” She started to press on her leg with a cloth, and Kate cried out in pain.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Kate asked, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming.

“I don’t know, this works on TV.” Eva pressed down again, and Kate gripped her hand to steel herself against the pain. Kate could feel her other hand dropping in temperature as Chess held it tight, and she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Chess was right. She was _not_ planning on dying in Riley’s basement. 

“They’re never going to believe you guys, you know. You tied _me_ up, I’m the victim here. The police will listen to me,” Riley said, awfully confident for someone who’d just been hit in the head with a pink dumbbell and was currently tied up with various exercise bands.

Eva stood up, placing Kate’s hand back on her thigh carefully to keep the pressure. “Actually, I’m really hoping they do.” She pulled out her phone, and started to play a recording of Riley’s confession, and Riley began protesting. Kate tuned her out, and stared at Eva. It could have been the blood loss, but Eva standing up to Riley and refusing to delete the video off her phone was probably the hottest thing she’d ever seen.   
  
Chess was less than impressed. “Dude, you literally need an ambulance right now, we do _not_ have time for this! Someone needs to get you upstairs and to a hospital ASAP.” Chess was shaking, and gripping Kate’s hand as tight as her ghost form would allow. 

Kate could feel her energy draining again. Wow, she really _had_ lost a lot of blood. “Um, can somebody take me to the hospital? I think I’m gonna faint.” Kate’s head drooped and she slurred her words, but she felt Reese and Annaleigh support her and she stumbled up the stairs with their help. Outside, the sky was filled with red and blue lights from police cars and Kate dropped to the ground, overwhelmed. 

Two EMTs picked her up, and with the help of her teammates, she made it into the back of the ambulance unscathed (besides the stab wound in her leg, of course). Reese and Annaleigh stood at the ambulance doors, clearly unsure what to do. One of the EMTs cut in before a decision could be made. “Sorry, guys, only immediate family can ride in the ambulance with her. You can visit her later at the hospital if you want, but for now it’s goodbye.” They nodded, clearly a little relieved that they wouldn’t have to deal with more trauma before the night ended.

Chess climbed into the back of the ambulance, and grabbed Kate’s hand again. “Hey, it’s okay, we’re gonna go to the hospital, and it’s all going to be alright. We did it, Kate, we found her.”  
  
Kate grabbed Chess’ arm, and looked her in the eyes. The EMT gave her a weird look, but decided to ignore the situation in favor of desperately trying to keep Kate from losing more blood. “Does this-- does this mean you’re leaving? For good? Chess--” Kate could feel tears starting to fall down her face. She was losing her best friend, she was dying for the second time.

Chess held Kate’s face in her hands. “I--” She had started to cry, too. “I think I don’t have a choice, right? I mean that’s my unfinished business, it’s over. I’m just dead now. Kate, I-- I love you, you know that? Don’t ever forget it, I fucking love you--”   
  
Kate could feel her eyes start to shut, she was using all of her strength left to stay awake, to stop Chess from leaving her again, but it was too hard. Just before she finally lost consciousness, she felt a brush of cold air touch her lips, and as she drifted away in her mind, it almost felt like a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I've really enjoyed writing this and I hope you've enjoyed reading as well! There will most likely be 2-3 more chapters, so this is definitely not the end!


	5. Chapter Five

_Kate was drowning. She could feel her lungs straining for air, her heart constricting, as she fell backwards, sinking further and further down into her subconscious. Her arm was outstretched, reaching for the surface as the light dimmed around her. Someone’s arm broke through the surface of the water, and she heard a girl’s voice -- Chess? Call out to her from above. She couldn’t reach the outstretched hand, and down she sank, watching the pinpoint of light slowly wink out of existence. She hit something sharp with her back, it seemed to stab right through her, sucking the last bit of air she had left, and --_

Kate sat up, gasping for air. She was in a brightly lit room, a thin blue blanket covering her body, and a beeping health monitor next to her. Ah. So she wasn’t dead. Sunlight streamed through the cracked blinds from a small window in the corner, it was a new day.

She slowly looked around the room, mostly empty except for her bed and a second bed, pushed off to the side. Suddenly, like deja vu, with a whoosh, the ghost of her dead friend appeared, sitting on the second bed. “Hey,” Chess said, after a moment of silence, trying to form whatever the right words to say could possibly be in this situation.

“You--” Kate sputtered, trying to wrap her mind around what she was seeing. “But you, you’re supposed to be dead now! We did the whole thing, you said goodbye, I thought you were gone!”  
  


Chess gave her a half smile, but her watery eyes and tear stained cheeks made it clear she’d been crying for a while. “Yeah, me too.”

Kate stared at her wordlessly, and Chess averted her eyes. 

“Maybe -- Maybe it hasn’t worked yet because Riley hasn’t actually been tried yet?”

“She pleaded guilty earlier this morning. I’m still here, and I don’t know why.” Chess’ voice started to shake. “I mean, Kate, you fucking got stabbed trying to help me with this. And it didn’t fucking work? I thought that was it, I thought I could finally be done! Why do I keep hurting people like this? Even when I’m dead, I can’t do anything right. How the fuck did this HAPPEN to me!” Kate watched as Chess got more and more worked up. She was pacing the room, back and forth, shaking her hands. As her volume increased, Kate looked around the room. The lights flickered overhead dangerously, and the health monitor’s beeping seemed to be more frequent. 

“Um, Chess? Maybe you want to calm down a little bit…”

“I can’t! I can’t fucking ‘calm down,’ it hurts so fucking bad, and there’s nothing I can do about it, nothing ANYONE can do about it!” Chess gestured dramatically, and suddenly she hit the health monitor with her hand, pushing the machine to the ground and stopping its beeping.. 

“Holy shit. Did you just do that?” Kate grabbed her knees and pulled them close to her, pushing her back against her wall in the bed. She had never seen Chess so mad, so intensely angry.

Chess looked at the health monitor, and then looked at Kate. Her eyes were like a thunderstorm, and tears streamed down her face. Chess looked at the nightstand next to the bed. Kate followed her eyes, and turned to see what had Chess so captivated. An orange pill bottle sat there, filled with small white capsules. The label was for Kate, probably for the stab wound that, conveniently, was currently throbbing.

Chess strode over to the nightstand, and slowly, shakily, picked up the pill bottle. She opened the top quickly, and delicately picked out a single pill.

“Chess…” Kate warned weakly.

But it was enough. Chess automatically looked up at Kate, and her concentration was lost. The pill fell to the floor, followed by the rest of the bottle, spraying the pills all over the room.  
  


“FUCK! NO! MOTHERFUCKING SHIT--” Chess yelled at the top of her lungs, voice straining with sorrow. She dropped to her knees and sobbed, the noise filling the quiet room.

  
Kate, who had been curled up and pressed as far away from the scene as possible, knew she had to do something. Slowly, she pushed herself up and off of the bed. She lay a hand on Chess’ back, flickering in and out of existence. Kate took a deep breath, a little in pain and a little in shock, and wrapped Chess up in the tightest hug she could, cold and warm all at the same time. Chess cried into Kate’s hospital robe, with invisible tears that wouldn’t ever show up on the material. “I’m sorry,” she whispered in between her sobs, “I’m so sorry.”

Kate just held her tighter, sitting on the floor of her hospital room as the sun shone down on them through the window and Chess’ body became more and more intangible.

Chess took one last deep breath and phased herself out of Kate’s grasp, wiping her face from the tears. She sat down on Kate’s bed and waited as Kate slowly sat back down next to her. 

Chess broke the ensuing silence. “I still feel it, you know?”  
  


Kate looked at her questioningly.

“Like, my stab wound. That hurts a lot. And… and the withdrawals. From the, um, painkillers. I still feel like I need them. It’s like a hole, one that I can’t fill, constant and aching. I’m empty, Kate.”

Kate let out a heavy breath as she listened to what Chess was saying.

“That’s why I can’t stay. Because every time I feel these things it’s a constant reminder that I’m not supposed to be here. I’m stuck halfway, and it’s fucking tearing me apart at the seams.”

A heavy silence settled over them both, and they sat in it for a while, absorbing the last few minute’s events.

“I didn’t mean it, what I said before you died,” Kate started. “About how I didn’t believe in you. I do. And I love you, no matter what. You didn’t need me to yell at you, you needed me to just be there for you, and I’m sorry I didn’t see that before it-- before it was too late.”  
  


Kate looked at Chess, memorizing every inch of her face, thinking of every stolen second she’d gotten to have with her, and something inside her went off like a loaded gun. She put her hand on Chess’ cheek with a steely resolve, the cold air the only thing she could feel. She needed to show Chess what she meant to her, the only way she knew how.  
  


Chess looked at Kate’s face, determined and filled with love, and felt spellbound, unable to move from her gaze, making her feel whole. She could feel Kate’s touch on her cheek, burning against her phantom form.

Kate slowly leaned forward, and lightly, so lightly that her lips didn’t even drop in temperature, she pressed a kiss to Chess’ lips. She pulled away, and Chess sat there, eyebrows furrowed like she was trying to understand a complex math problem. Chess crashed her lips against Kate’s, solid and warm and safe, and tried to pour all of her emotions, everything in her head, into the kiss. All the unsaid “I love yous,” all the apologies, all of the love and loyalty she felt, she pushed into Kate, and when Kate let out a gasp, Chess knew she was solid again, if only for a moment. 

After a minute, they pulled back. Kate, a little out of breath, spoke. “Wow.”  
  


Chess was similarly windswept. “Yeah.”  
  


They both stared at each other, and Chess sighed. “But I still need to leave.”  
  


Kate smiled a little half smile, eyes a little watery. “Yeah. I know. I love you too much to make you stay here. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we’ll figure this out. I promise you, Chess.”  
  


Chess opened her mouth to respond, but a knock at the door stopped her from responding. Kate looked up, and the head of one of her disheveled teammates poked into the room.

“Hey,” Eva said, stepping in with a flower pot and a card that said “Get Well Soon” over a picture of a cartoon tiger. “Um, the team all got you this card, so I thought I’d come over and give it to you.”  
  


Kate sat up in her bed, and subconsciously tried to adjust the hospital robe to look more presentable. “Hey, Eva. Uh, thanks. You can just put it there,” she said, gesturing to the nightstand.

  
Eva looked over and saw the pill bottle on the floor, but tactfully decided not to say anything. “Cool, so, um, I don’t know if you’re tired still, or if I’m bothering you, so if you want I can totally leave --”  
  


Kate stopped her. “Um, Eva? You don’t have to, but do you want to, I mean could you um, stay? Stay here with me for a little bit?”  
  


Eva smiled wide, and sat down in a chair next to Kate’s bed. She blushed when she realized she was still holding onto the flower pot. “Oh, and these are from me. You know, to brighten up the room a little bit. It’s a sunflower, which is my favorite.”  
  


Kate looked at Eva, with her dimpled smile and her perfect nose, and smiled too. “Those are my favorite too.”  
  


She glanced over at Chess for a second, hovering in the corner of the room, and Chess smiled at her and gave her a joking thumbs up. “It’s okay, you deserve someone alive to make you happy,” Chess whispered to her. “I give you my blessing.” She finished jokingly and then left the hospital room, leaving Kate and Eva.

  
  



	6. Chapter Six

Kate squinted at the bright sun and put her hand up to cover her eyes, letting the hospital door swing shut behind her with a resounding thud. It had been three days since she’d been carried in unconscious, and the dull throbbing in her leg wasn’t going away any time soon. Still, she smiled as she took in the view outside of the white walls and sterile hospital beds. A bird was chirping somewhere, and daffodils were blooming in a flower bed in front of her. The yellow of the petals reminded her of the sunflower slowly wilting back in her hospital room. A familiar chill seeped into her shoulders as Chess put her arm around her and kissed the side of her head.

Kate turned to look at her, and she smiled. “So, how does freedom taste after being stuck inside for so long?”

“Incredible. I think I’d die happy if I never saw a cup of lime green jello again.”

Chess threw her head back and laughed, filling the air with the sound Kate used to dream about. “I think you can manage that. Have you ever noticed that you don’t ever see that shit outside of hospitals? My theory is that they get it shipped in like those huge toxic waste barrels? And--”

Chess was cut off by a honk from a car that had just pulled up. The door opened, and a familiar brown haired girl in a denim jacket stumbled out, smiling. “Kate!” Eva called, waving erratically as her eyes landed on the newly released Tiger.

Chess tightened her grip for a moment on Kate’s shoulder, and then relaxed. “Go get your girl, Kate. You know you want to.”

Kate smiled, and waved back at Eva. “Just one second, I think I forgot something inside! I’ll be over in a minute!”

Kate ran back in the building, and beckoned for Chess to quickly follow. “Hey, so, before I go, listen. I don’t know why you’re here anymore, and I’m going to help you find your peace and help you let go, but, uh, I just wanted to let you know that you mean so much to me. And, I’m sorry that you’re stuck here, but I think it helped me. Get closure and stuff. And, be happy with who I am and the world around me? And I just wanted you to know that. Before I left to go with Eva.” Kate hesitated for a moment, rocking back on her feet, and then wrapped an arm around Chess’ semi-corporeal form in a tight hug.

Chess felt Kate’s arm around her, keeping her grounded and solid, and warmth coursed through her. She pushed Kate back for a second, and grabbed her face tenderly. “I love you, Kate. You deserve the world.” She leaned in and felt her lips warm against Kate’s, grinning into the kiss. She stood back. “You are sunshine and you are warmth, and you are my light. All I want is for you to be happy.”

Kate nodded, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “Okay. Just so we’re on the same page. I love you.” Kate turned around and pushed back to her room and ran back outside, towards Eva, sunflower and condolences card in her hand. Chess pushed through the doors and stood outside the hospital, watching as Eva hugged Kate tightly, then grabbed her hand as she led her to the car. Chess smiled, and felt a tear well up. Suddenly, she could feel the sun beating down on her like a wave of heat, and the grass underneath her feet felt like it was moving. Wind swirled around her, and Chess began to swirl with it, smiling as she moved with the world around her in a delicate dance that swallowed her whole.

Kate turned around one last time to wave goodbye to Chess, but as she turned slowly, all she could see was a small bird slowly gliding through the sky, flying away in the distance. Kate nodded, swallowed one last jerk of tears and emotion, and ducked into Eva’s car and closed the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this! I appreciate you all and I'm so glad I could contribute this story to the WATT fandom!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for reading! I'm going to be updating this pretty regularly right now because of corona, and I hope to keep doing it in the future as well! 
> 
> After watching the We Are the Tigers bootleg I knew I had to write a fic about it. This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction, so please comment and let me know how I did as well as anything else you want to tell me! I love this show and all of its characters. 
> 
> Peace out, and thanks again for taking the time to read this!


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